Racing and celebrity
In the first model year of 1910, two of the company's cars were entered in the Indianapolis Labor Day races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway where both McFarlans finished in the top five. McFarlans driven by Mel Marquette were also entered in the first two Indianapolis 500 races (1911 and 1912) in which they finished 25th and 19th, respectively.
Aiming for the top of the luxury market, one McFarlan Town Car displayed at the 1923 Chicago Auto Show, had the nickel-plating replaced with 24 carat gold, including a gold-plated interior. It reportedly was sold for $25,000, equivalent to $472,412 in 2025. McFarlans were known as "the most expensive car made in the US" and "the American Rolls-Royce" during the 1920s, a tribute shared by the Cunningham, a similar-appearing luxury car built in Rochester, New York, whose history mirrors that of the McFarlan.
The McFarlan was a luxury automobile owned by celebrities of the day such as Wallace Reid, William Desmond Taylor, Fatty Arbuckle, Paul Whiteman, Jack Dempsey and Virginia governor E. Lee Trinkle. Al Capone bought a McFarlan for his wife, Mae, in 1924 and bought a second one in 1926.
Classic era
In 1921, McFarlan introduced an engine of its own design, the Twin-Valve Six (TV Six). The six-cylinder unit was actually an improved Teetor-Hartley engine with four-valves per cylinder, 18 spark plugs, pressure lubrication, triple ignition, displacing 573 cubic-inches and produced 120 horsepower. The TV Six had a 140-inch wheelbase chassis with McFarlan coachwork that would offer up to a total of 10 different models.
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In an attempt to lower prices and increase sales, McFarlan introduced a mid-priced Single-Valve Six model powered by a Wisconsin six-cylinder engine. The Single-Valve Six Model occupied a very competitive segment of the industry, and the McFarlan did not fare well, prompting the company to discontinue the model during 1926.
By 1925 the McFarlan Motor Car Company offered 2 distinct lines with a total of 26 different models ranging in price from $2,000 to $10,000. On a limited basis, McFarlan built commercial cars; ambulances, hearse, funeral cars and firetrucks usually powered with a Continental engine.
McFarlan coachwork for other manufacturers were an important part of the McFarlan Motor Company's business. The custom boat-tail speedster design by McFarlan was adopted for Duesenbergs and Auburns. McFarlan and its neighbor, the Central Manufacturing Company supplied the speedster bodies that appeared on the 1928 Auburn.
McFarlan attempted again to capture a share of the growing mid-market with the 1926 introduction of a straight-eight. The Line-8 was on a shorter 131-inch wheelbase and came equipped with a 79-horsepower Lycoming engine. It sold better than the Single-Valve model.
The 1927 McFarlan lineup included the Line-8 and the Twin-Valve Six offered in a variety of body styles. The Line-8 prices ranged from $2,650 to $4,600, equivalent to $85,259 in 2025. The Twin-Valve Six prices were among the most expensive on the market, ranging from $5,400 to $9,000, equivalent to $166,810 in 2025.
Fate
The 1920s witnessed the failing health of Harry McFarlan, the post-World War I recession, and new products being introduced by other manufacturers. Harry McFarlan's long time associate Burton Barrows took over company operations, and introduced the Line-8 and new styling for Twin-Valve Six, but his health also failed and he died in 1928. McFarlan's efforts to move into new market segments had thinned its resources, and when the company did introduce new styling in 1928 (the first since 1921), it was too late. 1928 became the final model year and on August 8, 1928, bankruptcy was declared. One year later on August 1, 1929, the factory was sold to the Auburn Automobile Company. The Auburn Company used the factory for storage space for its unfinished automobiles, and it would later serve as a body shop for the Auburn.
In 1967 a book, What Was the McFarlan? was privately published by authors Keith Marvin and Al Arnheim. It is considered the definitive history of the McFarlan Motor Car Company. The authors were McFarlan enthusiasts and avid automobile historians, and the book identified nineteen extant McFarlans.
McFarlans are owned in private collections and automobile museums, including the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum, the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, the National Automobile Museum in Reno, Nevada, Historic Connersville in Connersville, Indiana and the Nethercutt Collection in California.
